I Love You
by amalspach
Summary: In which Leo stops calling Calypso something and she wants to know why. A Mortal AU, oneshot, Calypso x Leo story.


**Disclaimer: Yup, I still don't own the Percy Jackson universe. That's all Rick Riordan's terrain. I just post crappy fanfics about it.**

 **Wow. That sounded a lot more negative than I thought it would be. I should really just stop talking.**

 **Let the fic begin, I guess.**

* * *

"Why have you stopped calling my that?" Calypso asked her best friend, drumming her toes on the floor. Currently the caramel haired girl was standing above a scrawny 18 year old boy. He had wild eyes and grease splattered hands, and he had just been fiddling with a machine canister. Jolted out of his thoughts by her voice, he sighed and got up.

"Calling you what?" he responded, slightly exasperated. The teenager pulled a grubby towel from off the hood of the car he had been sitting by. His hands began to wring it, leaving the material a dark brown. "I want to have Festus running in a month and I need all the time with it I can get." Calypso flushed a little at this. She knew that he aspired to be a mechanic one day, and buying a beat up junker to turn into a working car had been a major project of his. It was his baby, and something he had been really excited about. Heck, he _named it_. Her friend was determined to finish it over the summer so he could drive to school at the start of next year. By extension, that meant she would be getting a lift as well.

"I'm sorry, Leo, I just wanted to . . ." She froze for a moment, remembering that she was angry. _Right._ Straightening up, she looked him in the eyes and declared, "Why did you change nicknames for me, Leo?" He snorted slightly.

"This is about a nickname? I thought that you were blaming me for messing with your garden or something . . . not that I would do that. You just looked really - " Realization dawned on him, and all the color drained from his face. "You mean . . . you mean, the spanish nicknames?" Ah, there they were.

"What other nicknames would I be referring to?" she snipped. They, much like Leo himself, had become a staple in her life, and she didn't take well to change.

You see, back when they first met, Leo had moved into the house across the street. His mother, Esperanza Valdez, had lived with him in a modest three bedroom place because she wanted Leo to have a better childhood. After his father died . . . the family of two hadn't forgotten about him, but they had wanted a fresh start, and their cramped townhouse in the not-so-nice part of town wasn't an ideal place to grow up. Thus Esperanza had taken Leo to New York and found a child-friendly neighborhood for them to live in right after his ninth birthday.

Calypso had been living there her whole nine years when he began to live across the street. As a girl, she didn't have very many friends; they mostly just came and went. Although the two kids had a rough start (Leo _swears_ he didn't break the leg of the dining table her mom had just had delivered), they soon became attached at the hip. They shared their dreams with eachother, dreams they hadn't told anybody; for example, Calypso really wanted to have a restaurant one day, which was something not even her mother had guessed at. No matter what, he had always supported her and vice versa. When his mom burned herself badly on the stove and had to go to the ER for 5 hours, she waited up with him. When her grown up half sister, otherwise known as Zoe, died from a heart attack, Leo sat there calmly while she cried.

If there was one thing that she was sure of, it was that Leo had asserted himself into her life, and whenever something threatened to change their status quo, it worried her. She _needed_ Leo, as sad as it seemed. He kept her sane.

Did something in her house just break? She calls him right off the bat. Having math homework problems? It's a good thing her best friend is practically a genius. Building a fountain? She _knows_ he'll be able to figure out what she did wrong (apparently she just didn't screw in the bolt tight enough; go figure).

He's kind-of become an addiction. She physically couldn't function without him.

It's starting to be a major problem.

Anyways, being from Latin America, Leo and his mother were fluent spanish speakers. So when they first became friends, Leo had adopted a phrase for her in spanish: Te quiero. It was a versatile phrase for him; he used it on his mother, on his machines, and on her. It always gave Calypso a little thrill, knowing that she was a part of the exclusive club he reserved the words for.

However, as the years went by, he also said it for different reasons; when their friend, Percy Jackson, broke up with her, she had to admit, she was hurt. Calypso knew he hadn't _meant_ to hurt her, and that almost made it worse. She couldn't hate him for 'dumping her'; he had said everything softly and slowly, like he was trying to make it less harsh. He said that he realized he loved her, but only as a friend.

Calypso knew she would forgive him someday, but in the moment, the rejection _stung_. She didn't want to admit it, but she cried her heart out on the porch as Leo stroked her hair and repeated the phrase, trying to comfort her. "Te quiero, te quiero," was whispered out for the next several hours as they watched the stars come out.

Another example was when she had flashed an Honors Society acceptance letter in his face. Calypso had been waiting for _months_ to hear back from them, and even though he had been about to fall asleep, Leo got up and spun her around in circles, laughing and saying the words with pride.

She didn't think that she could have ever been happier than at that moment, when he looked at her with so much _everything_ that she nearly bursted.

These words were pasted at the ends of sentences, as he grabbed her hand, and whenever she made him laugh. They chronicled their friendship and constantly plagued her memories with him. 'Te quiero' had always been something Leo had said to Calypso, and she should know; they've been best friends for half their lives. Saying anything else would be strange, even if she never knew what it meant in english.

Until recently, that is.

As of late, he's been acting differently. Leo's been playing with her hair, starring at her when she sings, and has even gone as far as to peck her cheek one night (no, she _didn't_ turn bright red for the next several minutes because of it, it was just _cold_ outside or something). The greatest thing to change, though had been his nickname phrase for her.

She wasn't quite sure when it started, but she's almost ashamed she didn't pick up on it earlier. One morning it just hit Calypso like a ton of bricks; Leo hadn't been saying 'te quiero' to her in weeks. He began calling her 'te amo' instead.

Now, she didn't know what that meant. Calypso never heard him use that set of words of anything else. His mom, his machines, and everything else he still cared for intensely were still labeled by 'te quiero'. Everything, of course, except for her. Had she done something wrong? Did she upset him in some way?

Those questions had been eating away at her conscience for the last several days, and now she was determined to get answers. That determination lead to today.

"I'm waiting," she reported. In her brief trip down memory lane, Leo had sat down on a metal bench, head in hands. he looked up with a mortified expression, then cupped his face again.

"I honestly didn't think you'd catch on," he moaned. For once, his usually dark complexion was marred with red. "Gods, I'm an idiot."

"Why did you stop saying te quiero to me?" Calypso asked, but slightly softer this time. Her best friend seemed so embarrassed that she automatically adjusted her attitude. Curse their years of friendship for making the two so in tune. "I thought I did something wrong." At this, she was rewarded with a shaky laugh.

"Are you kidding? You're more than fine. You're probably the best thing that ever happened to me." Oh, great. Now she was blushing, too. "I messed up."

"What did you do?" the teenager instantly responded with, pursing her lips. He peeked at the girl through his fingers, then groaned dramatically and arched his head towards the wall.

"Could you _not_ do anything for a second? I'm trying to work up the courage to say this, and you're being too nice about everything." She crossed her arms defiantly.

"Fine. I'm not playing nice now. You feel like telling me something? You might as well fess up." With a nervous sigh, the aspiring mechanic looked right at her. it was obvious that he was terrified of her, which was weird. 'Mr. Super-Sized McShizzle' wasn't afraid of anything, supposedly.

"I . . . Wow, I'm bad at this . . . I really like you, Calypso," he said nervously, voice absolutely wrecked. It was jolted and uneven, like he was still going through puberty. "Like, I _like you_ like you. For the last couple months." Calypso just about collapsed. _That_ was what this had been about? He liked her?

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

" . . . seriously?"

" . . . yes?" he winced. Suddenly he stood up, kicking at the floor. "It's alright. I figured as much." She still gazed glossily at the floor, so he continued to ramble. "I mean, it figures that I would fall for a girl who's way out of my league. I'm terrible with girls. It's just that you're pretty, and smart, and nice, and talented, and fantastic, and who wouldn't love you? I didn't think you - " Before he could finish, she cut him off with a kiss.

It was completely unplanned by either party, and for a moment, he was stock still. Then, after realizing it wasn't a dream and _your best friend is kissing you, do something you idiot_ , Leo began to kiss her back.

Their first kiss wasn't slow or graceful. The atmosphere was far from romantic; there was motor oil absolutely everywhere and they were residing in a dirty garage. His mom was likely just a room or two away from them, safe inside the main house. He was probably ruining her white shirt right now.

Strangely enough, none of that was brought up. It was arguably perfect.

If they had possessed gears and wires in their brains, they would have short circuited.

As they pulled away, Leo's eyes were blown wide open, and he appeared almost starstruck.

"So, I like you too." The caramel haired teen looked at her best friend (and probably more, now; she's going to have to think of a new label for him - if it weren't so cliche, 'soulmate' probably would have been good) with a surge of warmth. "Well, say something, you dork."

"Te amo," he complied, almost breathlessly. Obviously he had never been kissed; or, if he had, he had never been kissed like _that_.

"Not te quiero?" She felt herself deflate slightly. He still wasn't going to change it back.

"Definitely not," he agreed, grabbing her hand and beginning to explain. "Te quiero means 'I love you', but it's something for family and close friends. Te amo, on the other hand . . ."

"Oh," she squeaked. Te amo wasn't a downgrade in their relationship; if anything, it was an upgrade. He smiled, looking at her fondly.

"'Oh' is right." Calypso gazed down at their intertwined fingers and began to grin slowly. Hers were long and slender, thin and pale. His were warm and calloused, darker and stronger. Somehow they fit together perfectly.

They stood there for what seemed like an eternity, just resting and enjoying the moment. Finally, she pulled back her head (which had miraculously migrated to his shoulder without her acknowledgment) and untucked their hands.

"I should probably go. My dad is going to be wondering where I am." The latino nodded in agreement, albeit a little sadly.

"Yeah, you probably should." He let her get to the front of the garage before yelling up to her, "Do you want to go on a date tomorrow?"

"Yes!" she called back, now crossing the street. He watched her intently, stuffing his hands down his pockets in order to avoid tinkering with something out of habit.

"Te amo," Leo told her lightly, not knowing if she had heard him from where she stood. However, when she tugged at her front door from across the way and smiled at him, he knew that she had.

"Te amo, Leo," Calypso replied, watching his face flush once more with an insane amount of self accomplishment.

What could they say? They loved each other.

* * *

 **So, yeah. That was my first attempt at writing Caleo. Personally, I adore this ship and hate it when people try to shove him onto other characters. Like Reyna, for example; she hasn't even had a conversation with the guy and he kinda blew up portions of her home. It's not exactly a recipe for romance, yet lo and behold, people ship them. That's cool and all if you do, I'm just saying that these two characters are cute together.**

 **Also, there are so few Caleo stories out there; it's kinda disheartening, really. I guess I'm just the weirdo who approves of all of the canon ships.**

 **Anyways, I hope everybody who ships them like I do enjoyed this. It was inspired by a spanish test I just took when I learned the differences between the phrases 'te quiero' and 'te amo'. Afterwards I was like, 'Ohhhhhh, that's how they're used'.**

 **Clearly I am a master of spanish.**

 **Bye, everyone! Keep an eye out for any of my other stories!**


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